The present invention relates to medical devices, and in particular to a surgical device for operating within the confines of a human or animal body. The invention thus relates to internal surgical instruments, and in particular, relates to a surgical grasping or holding tool as well as a surgical tool for maintaining an opening within the body in which operations can be performed by other tools, for example, scalpels, scissors, cauterizers, lasers, fiber optical devices or drug delivery devices, etc. The invention allows the delivery of other functions and permits the displacement of internal body parts thereby to facilitate these other functions.
The following patents relating to surgical or other devices are known to applicant:
______________________________________ 1,592,836 4,607,620 5,057,114 3,074,408 4,722,338 5,064,428 3,785,381 4,733,663 5,070,859 3,828,791 4,777,948 5,089,000 3,888,117 4,792,333 5,108,406 4,066,082 4,944,741 5,176,700 4,105,030 4,994,079 5,190,541 4,174,715 5,030,216 5,290,299 4,201,213 5,014,407 5,324,518 4,414,985 5,047,046 SU 1949059 ______________________________________
None of these devices, however, provide a suitable grasping or holding device having an opposed thumb and an articulated, controllable finger, which operates much like the human hand. Furthermore, none of the known devices provide a means for providing and maintaining an internal space in the human body in which other operations can be performed.